Those looking to take advantage of their photography skills and talents in a commercial field might consider a career in advertising photography. Many colleges provide excellent advertising photography classes, and many online schools provide comprehensive courses over the Internet. A bachelor of fine arts degree in advertising photography requires that students take courses in a variety of different subjects, ranging from drawing, to portfolio development. Naturally, students will also need to take courses in advertising, if planning to specialize in this field, as well as courses in history, literature, and the fine arts, all of which are part of the general requirements for a bachelor’s degree in fine arts. Once you’ve earned your degree, scores of professional opportunities will then be available for you and your camera.

Imagine seeing your very own photographs represented on billboards or along the glossy pages of a topnotch magazine. Although it’s a commercial enterprise, advertising photography proves photographers the opportunity to harness their creative skills. Advertising photographs are deliberately designed to be both alluring and provocative, drawing the potential customer’s eyes, and enticing him or her to make a purchase. Capturing these caliber photographs is, in ways, a kind of seduction, and photographers must possess an intuition for texture, substance, color, composition, light, and shadow, as well as a sixth sense for dilating the potential customer’s pupils with captivation and interest.

Advertising photography is an extraordinarily diverse field, including everything from sessions with fashion models to food photography for cutting-edge restaurant menus. As such, advertising photographers often do their work in a variety of different settings and also explore scores of different photographic subjects, making this vocation both exciting and busy. A skilled photographer grows and thrives alongside the world of advertising, and the average salary for an advertising photographer falls somewhere between $40,000 and $50,000 per year, which represents one of the top-paying industries for a photographer of any kind. Moreover, an abundant amount of employment opportunities, as well as a great deal of freelance work, are regularly available for photographers in this fast-paced industry. Advertising photographers allows for creative people to pursue their artistry while earning a living, a perfect professional situation for any creative mind.

Advertising photography also allows amateur and veteran photographers alike to reach large numbers of people with their creative work. More than any other kind of photography in the world, those images used in advertising are seen by large numbers of people from all walks of life. As an advertising photographer, your work will reach the broadest audience possible. While not everyone attends galleries, no one can escape billboards! Indeed, advertising photographs are more likely to be used internationally as well as domestically. Imagine traveling overseas and seeing a photograph you took back home displayed on a billboard. Begin your advertising photography classes today and use your love of image-capturing to earn a living and travel the world.